The Return
by ladybrit
Summary: This story is a sequel to "The Brother" and uses some of the same characters.
1. Chapter 1

April 2013

**The Return**

Prologue

Hays City

Charlie Nesmith had been the telegraph operator in Hays ever since the lines had reached that town a few years back. He was surprised one afternoon when a young man showed up at the office saying the company had sent him to learn how to become an operator. He even had a letter that looked official, to back up his story. He seemed to have a good working knowledge of Morse code and knew how to send and receive messages, he told Nesmith he had learned it all in the Army. The young man's name was Alvin Shires, and Nesmith quickly grew to like him. He made himself useful fixing coffee and keeping the office clean. It was late on the third evening after Shires had arrived and they both sat drinking coffee that the young man had obligingly fixed. When Nesmith got up to accept an incoming wire, he found he was suddenly very tired and even a little dizzy. It was late and not much traffic would be coming through after this one so the young apprentice told him to go on home, he would mind the station. The old man was grateful for the offer and left the depot. As soon as he was gone the apprentice turned to the key and taking a sheet of paper with writing on it from his pocket, he carefully tapped out a message. Next morning Nesmith felt fine, and when he got to the office the apprentice was sleeping on the bunk and everything seemed in order. It was the day after that Alvin showed him a wire he had received from the company telling him to move on to some small town to the west where a new office would be opening. He bid farewell, got on his horse and left town.

-XX-

**Chapter 1**

The moon was waxing and would be full in another night or so. The clear air brought with it a slight chill, which not only helped to clear his head, but also made the moonlight just bright enough that he could keep his horse moving forward at a steady trot. The light was eerie because of the lack of color and the darkness of the shadows, but still they moved forward. Up till now the urgency of the situation had played a big part in giving him the energy to keep going but soon he knew that would run out and both man and horse would be forced to rest for a while.

The rider guided the horse off the trail and towards some cover offered by a group of scrubby bushes. He moved carefully as he dismounted and did not try to remove the heavy saddle from the animals back, he just lifted up a stirrup and loosened the girth, then made his way over to a fallen tree limb and slowly lowered himself onto it. A half hours rest should be enough.

Where did he go wrong? It is never easy to admit you had made a mistake about something, but he had sure been taken in this time.

It had all started four days ago. It caused such distress in his mind that he hated to think back on it. She had really been mad at him, angrier than he had ever seen her before. She had stalked out of his office with head held high and determination in her step, telling him not to hurry back on her account.

Now, looking back, it had all been for nothing.

The telegram had seemed genuine enough. It was from Tom Gilmore, the Sheriff in Hays City, asking him to come there immediately, the Spencer gang was trying to tear his town apart, and they had already killed one of his deputies and he needed Matt's help.

Kitty had begged him not to leave until the next morning. She had been planning something for several days, a special evening for the two of them. She had even had Sam arrange the bar help schedule so that they would not need her help. Just one evening, that was all she had wanted, after all it was not that long ago that he had been gone for almost a whole month. Surely it was not a lot to ask of him. Then the telegram came.

He took off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair. She had asked him why would Gilmore need help like that, he had two good deputies of his own. He should have listened to her.

Now he just had to get back to Dodge, he was sure something must be happening there, something for which someone had a good reason to need him out of way.

He should have checked – should have listened to her, should have at least stayed that night, but no, as usual he had felt that overwhelming sense of responsibility to the badge, and it made him saddle up and ride off, then and there, leaving her standing watching him from behind the double doors of Long Branch.

What a fool he was. He had ridden the approximately hundred-mile trip in under two days, only stopping to rest when his horse began to tire. Even then he didn't make it into Hays. Maybe he was too tired – maybe his mind was elsewhere, but he did not see the men who jumped him. He was lucky that they did not want to kill him, they could easily have put several rifle slugs in him and that would have been the end. He still had no clue as to what they had wanted. If it hadn't been for Tom Gilmore's deputy returning to town along that same trail, he would he would probably be dead by now. As it was he woke up in the Sheriff's office with a pounding headache and a painful set of ribs.

He remembered Gilmore's question.

"Where were you headed Matt?"

He had managed to push the pounding aside for a minute to answer.

"Here Tom, I was coming here, you telegraphed and asked me to come to Hays."

The Sheriff looked at him with a blank stare, "Not me Matt."

"You didn't send a wire? The Spencer gang in town."  
"No Matt, everything is quiet here."

He had been stunned by that answer. It took him a moment to absorb the information and what it might mean. Someone had wanted him out of Dodge was the only conclusion he arrived at. The pounding in his head reached new proportions as the truth settled in and he thought of the possibilities; a planned bank robbery, a stage holdup, what was going on? Kitty. Was someone out to harm Kitty? The trail herds had already started coming in, that made him think about events from a year ago, trail herds and Lou Gannon. Again he thought of Kitty. He had to return to Dodge immediately.

"I've got to get back," he grunted as he started to sit up.

"You should wait on Dr. Freeman, I think you have a couple of busted ribs there and you took a pretty good lick to your head. He'll be back in an hour or so."

"No I can't do that. Where is my horse?"  
"Ben took him down to the livery."

"How long have I been out."

"About three hours," the Sheriff replied as he walked over to his desk and opened a drawer from which he produced two glasses and a bottle. He poured a little of the expensive liquid into each glass and took one to the Marshal.

Despite the screaming in his ribs and the pounding in his head Matt managed to sit up and swing his legs to the floor. He looked around and saw that he had been lying on a cot in one of the cells.

"I don't think too much of the accommodations, Tom," he said, trying for humor to disguise how he really felt. He took the offered glass and sipped slowly on the smooth whisky knowing it would help a little.

"Can you get my horse for me, he should be pretty well rested by now. I have to get back to Dodge. I know something bad is going on there."

"Matt you can't start back tonight, wait till tomorrow and I'll get Ben to go with you."  
Matt shook his head and discovered that was not the thing to do. He emptied the rest of the drink in one swallow then handed the glass back to Gilmore.

"No I have to leave now." He reached in his pocket and handed over the telegram he had received – the one purporting to be from the Sheriff himself, "Here see if you can find out how this got sent and let me know."

-XX-

Another night of waiting lay ahead. Kitty Russell watched Sam leave the Long Branch after he had cleaned the bar and set the room back to rights. It would be another cold and lonely night. Marshal Matt Dillon had barely been gone for four days and so far she had heard nothing from him. As his absences went, four days was not long, but she had been so infuriated with him when he left, and now, as the days had passed, her anger had subsided only to be replaced by worry. If anything were to happen to him, if for some reason he never made it back, the memory of that anger would haunt her forever. She made her way behind the bar and, finding a bottle of good whisky hidden on a shelf behind the usual stock, she poured herself a generous measure before starting towards the stairs. Her foot barely found the first step when there was a banging on the door. At first she ignored it, probably some drunken cowboy looking for another drink. After a pause there was a second round of knocking followed by a voice, a very familiar voice.

"Kitty it's me."

"Matt." The cry escaped her lips as she rushed to the door. There he stood, dirty and cold, looking tired and totally exhausted. Considering the short time he had been gone she wondered if he had even made it to Hays.

"Don't just stand there," she took his hand and pulled him inside. Glancing up and down Front Street and seeing no one around, she firmly closed and locked the inside doors, then turning to face him put her arms around his neck and whispered, "Welcome home."

She was looking up at him with those clear blue eyes and relief washed over him, nothing had happened to her during his absence. Without speaking he bent his head down towards her and placed a gentle kiss on her soft lips. She thought she felt a slight hesitation for a moment before the warmth of his strong arms gently encircled her and drew her slowly towards him.

"Kitty you're all right." A question or a statement, she couldn't tell which. They stood there, holding the moment, feeling the comfort it gave to both of them and not wanting to break it.

Eventually he released her and she stepped back to look into his eyes, those eyes would always tell her the truth, it was like looking into his mind. Tonight she could see relief, exhaustion, love and concern. He would hardly ever express that love in words, but sometimes she could see it plain as day, right there in his eyes.

"When did you get back?" she asked him.

"About half an hour ago, just long enough to leave the horse with Moss and walk along to the jail. Chester was sound asleep and the cells empty, so I figured I might be able to find a bed here."

"We'll just have to see what we can do about that," she said with a laugh.

Slowly they made their way up the stairs and along the landing to her private rooms. Once they were inside and the door was closed, she noticed for the first time that there was pain in his eyes along with lack of sleep.

"Are you hurt Matt?" somehow she could always tell. He said nothing, but now he was safe behind the closed door she could see him fading.

She helped him take off his coat and noticed how stiffly he moved.

Finally as she undid his shirt she saw the multiple purple bruises.

"I got jumped by three or four men just before I got to Hays," he admitted by way of explanation, "I have no idea what they wanted, they just came at me, knocked me out and left. Fortunately one of the sheriff's deputies was passing that way and probably scared them off. He took me on into town."

The big Marshal made his way wearily across the room to the bed, carefully sat himself down on the edge and was trying to remove his boots. Now that he was home and he knew that Kitty was safe, the strength and determination that had got him here were rapidly running out. Gently she helped him with the boots and encouraged him to lie back. She could clearly see the pain in his eyes now.

"I'm going to get Doc, it looks to me like you may have a couple of broken ribs."

He wanted to protest but knew he didn't have the ability to do that successfully.

She was only gone for about ten minutes, but it seemed an empty eternity to him before she returned. Without having to open his eyes he felt the instant she was back, it was as if a comforting presence wrapped itself around his aching body.

Quietly she walked over to the bed and stood looking at him, wondering how many times she could go through this, how many times he would drag himself back to her, wounded or exhausted or both until one terrible time when he would never return. She angrily pushed that evil thought aside.

"Come on Matt let's get your shirt off. Doc will be here in a minute" He gave little resistance as she helped him get first one arm and then the other out of the sleeves. The bruises looked even worse now that she could see their full extent in the yellow light from the oil lamps. He had also taken some hefty punches to the stomach by the looks of things.

"When did this happen," she asked him with concern in her voice.

"Just before I got to Hays, about two days ago I think."

Now that he was lying still he could feel is body tightening up and any slight movement he made caused pain in one part of him or another

"You mean you rode home like that?" Her voice rose higher in exasperation. "You could have died out there on the trail and we would never have known what happened to you."

She set about removing his gun belt and hung it on the peg by the door with his hat.

Matt closed his eyes; he was trying not to show how bad he really felt. Somehow the goal of getting home had kept him going, but now that was gone, pain and exhaustion were taking over.

He felt grateful for her presence and knew that as long as she stayed with him he would have something to focus on other than the bruised and battered feelings that had plagued him all the way home.

"There is a doctor in Hays, you know. At least you could have got those ribs strapped up before you left."

"He was out of town, I didn't want to wait."

Kitty heard knocking coming from the downstairs doors.

"That'll be Doc." She got up from the bed where she had been sitting and pulled the sheet up to cover her man before hurrying down the stairs to let the physician in.

Doc was always leery of what he would find when Matt came back into town. Sometimes it was a bullet wound or broken bone. Deep down he dreaded the day that he thought would inevitably come, the day when the Marshal's injuries where such that he couldn't do anything for him. The life expectancy of a good lawman was not something anyone in their right mind would put money on. Matt Dillon had been the law in Dodge for about 5 years now, which in itself had exceeded all expectations. He hoped this would not be the time that luck ran out on him.

He put his hand on the bedroom door and ushered Kitty in ahead of him.

The figure on the bed looked drawn and still.

"Hello Doc." Even the voice seemed faded, and came between two gasps for breath.

"What kind of trouble did you get yourself into this time Matt?"

He went to the bed and sat on the edge, pulling back the sheet and searching for a wrist. At least the pulse was steady and even.

He used his experienced fingers to feel around the multiple bruises; there were two ribs that were definitely broken, possibly more. Matt was a good friend, he drank coffee, ate meals and played checkers with him. It hurt the physician to see him like this. How many times had he begged him to give up that badge? He undid the Marshals belt and loosened his pants, being as gentle as possible he felt around the abdominal bruises hoping there was no internal bleeding. He hated hearing the occasional moan that escaped his friend's lips as he completed his examination, but he needed the answers his experienced hands would give him. Unconsciously he pulled on his ear while he thought for a moment.

"Matt I am going to have to strap those ribs for you."

He went to his bag and brought two wide bandages and binders to the bedside.

"Come on, let's sit you up and get this over with." He reached towards the big man's shoulder, slipping a hand behind it to give a little leverage and so help relieve the strain on the bruised abdominal muscles.

With Kitty's help they had the big man sitting on the edge of the bed with his feet on the floor. He was none to steady and Adams could see the beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead. Before he started to apply the rib bindings he examined the bruises that extended onto his patients back, the gentlest of probing elicited a sharp intake of breath.

"I'm sorry Matt," he whispered.

He leaned over to pick up the bandages and the big man nearly fell forward off the bed. Kitty took the Marshal's arms and put them firmly onto her shoulders so he could balance his weight there. Doc reached through the space between his two friends and began to apply the strong wide bindings to the offending ribs. Dillon barely managed to stifle a groan and his head fell to Kitty's shoulder. She raised her hand and placed it on his dark curls, trying to soothe him.

"Hold on for a few minutes Cowboy." She looked at the physician, but he did not want to meet her gaze, he just continued with his work, trying not to hear the sharp intakes of breath as he tightened the bandages and tied them off.

"Hold him there a minute," he instructed his red headed assistant.

The doctor took his bag and withdrew a small dark bottle. He poured a measured amount of the contents into a glass that he found on the sideboard and brought it over to the bed.

"Come on Matt, drink this down so you can get some sleep."

He knew how badly the big man was hurting when he obligingly took the glass and swallowed the bitter contents without complaint.

As gently as possible they laid him back down against the pillows. Matt accepted the help and tried to breath through the pain as he waited for the drug to cloud his mind and bring some form of relief and the sleep he so badly needed.

Carefully they pulled the sheet and blanket over him, and Doc took Kitty aside.

"He should sleep for a few hours now. I'll leave another dose of laudanum in case he needs it. It looks like he hasn't had any sleep in days, so make him rest." Doc gathered his stuff together and packed it back in his faded black bag then he quietly opened the door to leave.

"I'll come down and let you out Curly."

The pair headed down the well-worn stairs walking silently side by side. As they reached the bottom Doc turned and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Just watch him for fever and we'll see how he does. I think mostly he is just exhausted and a good twelve hours sleep will help more than anything, but come and get me if you are worried."

"I will and thanks Doc."

He smiled. "Just watch him," he repeated as she unlocked the door and let him out onto Front Street, 'I'll come check on him first thing tomorrow." The elderly physician gave a comforting squeeze to her hand before heading off into the night. She watched him drawn into the darkness then locked the big double doors and made her way back up the familiar staircase.

The Marshal had not moved during her brief absence. Quietly she got ready for bed and after completing her night time routine, crawled softly beneath the covers to lie close to the man who was the source of so much that was good in her life, but also the bringer of so much heartache. She knew that by lying next to him, if his condition worsened she would feel it, even through a deep sleep.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

The Return

Chapter 2

It was still dark when she awoke to hear his uneven breathing.

"Matt are you all right?" He grunted some reply she couldn't make out. Doc had told her to make sure he slept, so she got up and walked across the cold floor to get the dose of Laudanum that had been left for him.

"Here take this, Cowboy."

She managed to ease him up enough so that he was able to swallow the liquid from the glass she pressed against his lips. She felt his hand searching for hers and obligingly squeezed his fingers for a minute or two until she saw him relax and fall back into a restful sleep

Once more the drug induced cloud disguised the pain and let him get the rest he badly needed, in fact it worked so well that by the time he woke, the sun was already pouring in the window and Kitty had got dressed and left. He sat up, swinging his feet to the floor, his head and ribs still hurt but the hours of sleep had helped a lot. He was just feeling around for his boots when he heard footsteps outside the door followed by the unmistakable voice of Doc.

The physician's eyes took in the scene before him. He was used to the Marshal's uncanny powers of recovery, but he had not expected to see him looking as good as he did now.

"That sleep must have worked miracles," he said as he examined the egg-sized lump on the back of his friend's skull.

"How's your head feel, Matt," he asked as he pulled his stethoscope from the well-worn medical bag.

"Just a little foggy, probably from all that laudanum you poured down me."

The Doctor just grunted and, undeterred, continued with his examination. A few minutes passed while he listened and poked to assess the condition of his patient. Apparently satisfied he removed his spectacles and carefully placed them back in their case then he took the well-worn stethoscope from around his neck and looked hard at Dillon, using the instrument as a pointer to emphasize his words.

"You know Matt you really need at least another day in bed to rest, but I know better than to tell you that. Just take it easy for a while and come by the office this evening so I can check on you."

With that he ran his hand over his mustache and mumbling something Matt could not quite make out, left the room.

-XX-

Matt had found Kitty in the office behind the bar. She had just finished checking the inventory and placing an order with the whisky drummer, who was leaving. Now they were sitting drinking coffee at the table at the back of the saloon.

"Kitty are you sure nothing unusual happened around here while I was gone. No strangers asking questions? Anything?"

"No Matt, no more than the usual crop of rowdy cowboys."

"I just can't understand why someone wanted me out of town."

"What do you mean?"

"Tom Gilmore didn't send that telegram asking me to come to Hays. If the only thing the person who sent it wanted was to ambush me, they could have done it around here – why would they want me to go to Hays. The only reason I can think of is because they didn't want me in Dodge; maybe they planned to rob the bank or the stage or something. For a while I thought there might be someone trying to come after you, that's why I rode straight back. I kept thinking of Lou Gannon."

Kitty considered his words for several moments.

"Honestly Matt I can't think of any explanation, no one has said anything around here."

"I'm just asking you to be careful and if you see anything out of the ordinary let me know about it."

He picked up his hat "I'll see you later."

She watched him leave the Long Branch then picked up the coffee pot and cups and took them to the bar.

"Is the Marshal all right Miss Kitty?" Sam looked up from washing beer mugs.

"Yes Sam, he's just a little worried about who sent him that telegram from Hays."

-XX-

The three riders hesitated at the turn off of the trail that led to the ranch house. They had been gone for over a week and somehow had not accomplished the task they had been set. They knew their boss was going to rant and rave when they told him, in fact they had thought of not coming back here at all, but for each of them, for different reasons, he was probably the only man who would employ them at all, and sometimes the pay could be very good.

Gannon became enraged and paced the floor when they told him what had happened.

"You mean you let him get away from you. I had set everything up for you and still you could not do a simple job. I should fire all three of you. All I asked you to do was bring that man here."

"We didn't think he would leave Dodge that evening, we planned to take him as he left the next morning. As it was it took us almost to Hays before we even caught up with him and then that Deputy came riding up on us. We didn't have any choice."

"Just get out of my sight."

The three dejected cowboys scurried from the main building and led their horses to the corral, still talking among themselves about all the difficulties they had encountered, trying to justify their misfortune.

-XX-

For three days Dillon watched the streets and bars of Dodge. He made a point to meet the stagecoaches and the Santa Fe trains as they arrived. Nothing but the usual assortment of drifters, cowboys and gamblers found their way into town. Then the second telegram came. This one was directly from the Marshals service telling him to go all the way to Tascosa to collect a prisoner from the Sheriff there, then head towards Wichita with him. They would send two Deputies out from Wichita to meet him when he was on the way back and he was to hand the prisoner over to them. Matt read the telegram with suspicion; he even sent a wire to the department to confirm the orders.

Later that evening he was sitting in the Long Branch talking to Kitty and Doc when Barney from the telegraph office brought him the reply. The telegram had been genuine and he would have to go. The trip would mean he would be away for at least three weeks and he wasn't looking forward to it, even less was he looking forward to explaining it to Kitty. He would at least wait till the next morning to leave.

"Matt you shouldn't head out again now– you've only been back for three days, can't they send someone else."

"It's my job Kitty." The usual explanation, not original but it was all he had.

Doc was going to add his objection to the argument, but knew from experience that it would do no good.

"You'd better stop by the office and let me check those ribs before you head off again, Matt," he said and knew that was the best he could do.

-XX-

It was two weeks later that Kitty received the letter from Leila.

Leila was a pretty saloon girl who worked at the Long Branch for a year but had left about six months ago with a gambler named Jed Stephens. Leila had been a sweet trusting girl when she arrived in Dodge and Kitty had tried to warn her about the many pitfalls out there for a young woman on her own, especially from gamblers with fine clothes and fancy ways. Sadly her words had not been heeded and the girl had followed Stephens to Denver because he had told her he was going to marry her. Kitty had summed the gambler up fairly soon after his arrival in Dodge and had tried to talk Leila out of it, but the young girl took off anyway. Now she was writing that she was in trouble, had no money and wanted to come back to Dodge. She was scared to leave Stephens and travel alone, and wanted Kitty to come and get her. She would not be scared if Kitty was with her.

Kitty was sitting reading the letter and sipping on a cup of coffee when Chester came up to her.

"Bad news Miss Kitty?" He could see the concerned look on the saloon owner's face as she continued to read.

"I don't know, Chester. Come sit down and let me pour you some coffee.

The man sat and appreciated the cup she passed to him.

"Do you remember Leila?"  
He thought for a moment than his face lit up with a big smile. "Oh yes I surely do, she was that sweet little blond girl from back east somewhere. Had the prettiest smile, didn't she?" His wide grin and glassy eyes told Kitty that indeed he remembered Leila.

"Yes that's the one. Remember she went off after that gambler Jed Stephens."

"Oh yes I remember now," he recalled sadly. Once or twice he had tried to get her to go on a buggy ride with him, but she always had an excuse.

"She says she's got some kind of trouble and wants to come back to Dodge."  
Chester's face lit up at the prospect.

"She wants me to go and get her."

Suddenly his whole manner changed as he understood what she was planning.

"What Miss Kitty? Now wait a minute – Mr. Dillon wouldn't want you going all that way by yourself."

"He's not here, and probably won't be for at least another week. I should be back by then."

Kitty felt quite excited about going on a trip of her own, the days and more especially the nights seemed to go on forever while Matt was gone. This would give her something to do and that would make the time seem to go by faster.

-XX-

Several weeks previously in a small town to the east of Denver, a gambler by the name of Jed Stephens was talking to a prominent rancher. The rancher's name was Lou Gannon and he was looking for a replacement for his henchman, Dragg Billings. That man had been strong and could fight, but his brain was not too sharp and he had finished up in state prison where he would probably remain for at least ten years. Gannon decided he needed someone with a little more intelligence than Billings and when he heard that Jed had been in Dodge City about 6 months ago he was interested in learning more about the man. They were standing at the bar in a dreary saloon, really little more than a tent with a trestle table set along one side so the men had something to lean on while they drank their warm beer and watered down whisky. It wasn't long before he also found that Stephens had a young lady friend who had worked at the Long Branch saloon. This gave him an idea – if those idiots he employed could not manage to bring Dillon to him, then maybe he could persuade the marshal to bring himself.

"Stephens, you could really be useful and I could pay you a handsome price if you'd like to do a little job for me.

"What would the job entail – you know I already make a pretty good living playing poker."  
"I'm not going to stop you doing that, I just need you to do something. I need you to get that girl yours girl to write a letter for me – then I need you to meet a stage."

Gannon went on to explain his plan. The gambler had no problem with the details; after all he had no concern for the owner of the Long Branch. Leila might put up a few objections, but he knew he could overcome those with a little persuasion of one form or another.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

The Return

Chapter 3

Kitty felt a certain sense of excitement as she boarded the stage on the first leg of her trip westwards. There were three other people on the stage, a middle aged man and his wife, and then a younger man who kitty thought could be a gunslinger or a gambler. The first day or so of the trip passed without incident, they stopped to rest for several hours at different way stations, and at the end of the second day they stopped overnight in a small town. The only hotel – if it could be called that – did not have a lot to offer, but it was fairly clean and gave her a chance to bathe and change clothes.

The third day started of just fine. It was mid morning and they were about 80 miles from Denver by her reckoning. They had picked up two more passengers that morning, both men. Kitty thought one was a banker or some kind of businessman, the other was a cowboy whose horse had come up lame and he had had to abandon it and finish his journey by stage.

She was just dozing off when a sudden application of the break caused a screeching of the wheels, as the driver was trying to pull the horses to a stop.

She began to feel nervous and managed to glimpse out of the window. Two men were out there with guns pointed at the driver. Then one of them approached the door of the stage and opened it. His face was covered.

"You," he said pointing his gun in Kitty's direction, "Step down from there, the rest of you just raise your hands and stay perfectly still and no – one will get hurt."

Kitty thought she had heard his voice before, but couldn't place it. She didn't want to leave the stage, but on the other hand she didn't want to see anyone else get hurt. So she gathered up her skirt and obediently left the relative security of the coach.

Once she was clear, the bandit ordered the driver to continue on his way and not look back. The man obliged – not that he felt good about leaving a passenger in the hands of bandits, but he was also had the remaining passengers to consider.

As the stage drove off into the distance Kitty felt so alone and vulnerable, way out here in countryside she was not familiar with and where she was not likely to meet anyone she knew. In reality she didn't even know where she was. Alone…that's where she was.

The man whose voice was vaguely familiar directed her over to some rocks where there was a saddled horse waiting. He told her to mount up then he signaled with his gun, indicating she should come and ride beside him. The other man followed close behind. There was no more conversation; they just rode along the dusty trail for what she judged to be a little more than an hour. Then in the distance she could see a turning off to the right. When they reached it she could read the sign over the entrance to what had to be a ranch. Carved in the wood was a large G with some design behind it that looked like wings or flames. The Blazing G ranch. She remembered that name only too well, and hesitated for a moment before passing through the open gate.

"C'mon now Miss Kitty, please keep moving." The man had removed the bandana that had been covering the lower half of his face and now a cold shiver ran through her as she recognized who this was.

"Jed Stephens," she managed to put a sneer into the name "I should have known you were behind this. What are you planning to do and where is Leila?"

"Too many questions, you will get your answers soon enough."

She did contemplate trying to turn her horse and make a run from these two men, but the landscape was mostly flat and she could see no place to hide. Reluctantly she did as she was told, inwardly wishing she had listened to Chester's warning. No one from Dodge would miss here for at least another four or five days and even then - the one man that could find her would not be back in town for a week at least.

She could remember clearly the look of hate on Gannon's face as he stood before the Judge in Dodge City's make shift court room, barely a year before. Now she wondered what he had in mind, and thought how easily she had been taken in. Worse still she knew he would use her in some way to get to Matt.

It took another ten minutes before they arrived at the ranch house. By now the light was beginning to fade and several lanterns had been lit. They were hung around the porch and under different circumstances would have looked quite inviting. Now they looked like traps drawing moths towards the flames. She knew she was one of the moths.

Stephens indicated to her to dismount from her horse and walk up onto the porch. The front door opened and she was surprised to see Leila standing there, but this was not the lively beautiful girl that had worked at the Long Branch up until 6 months ago. This was a woman who looked tired and drawn - almost sickly.

"I'm sorry Kitty," she mumbled, "they made me write you that letter. I didn't want to but..."

Kitty could see tears forming in the girl's eyes. She reached out her arm and put it around the former saloon girls shoulders.

"It's all right Leila, I understand."

The two women were directed towards a room at the back of the house, the door was opened and they were pushed inside. Kitty heard the sound of a key turning in the lock, behind them. Just to make sure she tried the door but it was substantially built and the lock was a good one. Leila sat on the bed in the corner and broke down in sobs while Kitty went to check the window. It was almost dark outside and she could not see much - but there was enough light to see the bars that would prevent any escape.

"There is no way out of here, I have looked so many times. They even leave a man guarding the door. We are both prisoners now." Leila sobbed the words and tried to wipe her tears with a small handkerchief.

Kitty looked at the girl then walked over to the bed and sat down beside her.

"I take it that Lou Gannon is behind all this."

The girl nodded her head then continued in a quiet voice.

"Jed didn't turn out to be the kind of man I thought he was. You were right – I should have listened to you. At first when I arrived we were living in a small place on the outskirts of Denver. It wasn't great, but I tried to make it home. At first it wasn't too bad, then he became very protective, worried if I went out of the house without him. To begin with I thought it was because he cared about me, but it got out of hand. He wouldn't let me leave the place at all. I couldn't visit with anyone, or even go to the store. Sometimes he would get a little... rough... at least I thought that was what it was. But he got worse and if things weren't done exactly the way he liked it he would beat me. I planned to leave him and was trying to figure out how to do it when he met this man Gannon. Jed said he was going to work for him and he would be paid well, things would change for us, we would have a more comfortable place to live, he would buy me a fine home. He said he was sorry he had treated me badly but the cards hadn't been good to him and he had lost a lot of money. Things would get better when he worked for Gannon, all I had to do was write this letter. I tried to refuse Kitty honest I did," she had started crying, her whole body was shaking. "He was going to beat me Kitty, he said I was ruining our chances of a happy life together."

The saloon owner looked at the young girl. In some ways she was angry with her for going off with Jed Stephens in the first place, but in others she could understand her actions. She herself had met some bad times in her life and knew that it was easy to make the wrong choices. She looked around the room. It was sparsely furnished but had everything needed. A washstand with a pitcher of fresh water, some clean towels in a stack on a chair beside it. The bed was covered with a quilt of drab colors, but it was clean and fairly comfortable. A small round table stood in the middle of the room with two upright chairs set around it.

"How long have you been kept here Leila?'

"They brought me here about 3 or 4 days ago. Jed was busy for Mr. Gannon and he didn't want me left alone, he thought I might try to contact you."

"Do you have any idea what Gannon has planned."

"I know he wanted to get you and Marshal Dillon here but why I don't know."

Kitty thought to herself that whatever he had in mind it would not be good. At least Matt was out of town - maybe they would not be able to find him. There was a little relief in that in some ways - but without his help she couldn't see a way out of the current predicament.

She looked out the window once more, it was completely dark now and she could see the crescent moon fairly high up in the sky. She gave herself a brief moment to gaze at it and wonder if Matt was looking at it too.

-XX-

At last Matt was on his way home. The long trip although exhausting had been accomplished without incident. The two deputies from Wichita had met him soon after he left the territories and crossed back into Kansas. He had willingly handed over his prisoner and was now headed home to Dodge. He was tired because of the miles he had travelled and also because he had not really been able to sleep while escorting the prisoner. As he pulled off the trail he couldn't help but notice the bright crescent moon rising in the darkening sky. Two more days and he should be home. He unsaddled his horse then gathered some wood to light a fire. He was tired of eating beans and beef jerky, but the coffee he made was hot and very welcome. He arranged his saddle and bedroll near the fire and laid down to rest. The ribs were still bothering him, but not as bad as they had been, even so he wouldn't really sleep out here but he could relax a lot more than he had been able to for the last few days. He found himself staring up at the sky for the longest time. The night was clear and millions of bright stars hung there looking back down at him. The crescent moon was high in the sky and he watched it rise even higher until his eyelids became heavy and finally closed.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

The Return

**Chapter 4**

Chester and Doc Adams were sitting in the Marshals office drinking coffee. As usual the physician had complained about the jailers brew – but despite his expressed low opinion of the liquid he stayed to drink several cups. The two men had played three games of checkers, but neither of them could concentrate on what they were doing.

"Still no word from Kitty?" asked Doc.

"Now yer know if I had heard anything I would tell yer."

Doc wiped his hand across his face and removed an old toothpick from his pocket, looked at it in detail, then put it in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully.

"When will Matt be back?"

"I don't know that either. He had said the soonest would be three weeks and that would mean he might get back day after tomorrow."  
The physician shook his head. "Something doesn't feel right."

It was four days since Kitty Russell had left Dodge on the stage headed west and they knew they should have heard from her by now.

Two days later a notification from the stage company arrived on the Marshal's desk. When it arrived Chester read the contents then in something approaching panic ran and hopped along Front Street and up the stairs to the office of Dr. G Adams.

Doc read the telegram. It was short and to the point but brought chills to his spine.

"Passenger, believed to be Miss Kitty Russell of Dodge City, KS, kidnapped from west bound stage, at a point approximately 60 miles to the east of Denver."

Chester was still flustering around.

"I know what I'm gonna do Doc – I'm gonna get a small posse together and ride out there and find her."  
"Now wait a minute, let's think this through. Matt may be back any minute, he wouldn't want you running off with no idea where you were going or what you were going to do. Go get Sam from the Long Branch and a couple of the other men and bring them up here."

Chester descended the stairs back down to Front Street, taking them two and three at a time. He was just about to enter the saloon when he saw a familiar shape heading towards him. A sense of relief passed over him, his boss had returned.

"Mr. Dillon, Mr. Dillon," he called out waving his arms in the air like a disjointed windmill just in case his boss somehow didn't hear him.

Matt pulled the big buckskin over towards the Long Branch and tied him to the rail.

His assistant ran up, breathless.

"You gotta come up to Doc's right away, there's a telegram for ya."

"Up at Doc's?"

"Well yeh, I left it there, it's bad news Mr. Dillon, you need to go read it. I'll see to yer horse."

-XX-

Even though Kitty was tired she did not sleep much. She sat and listened to Leila's sobs for what seemed like hours, then finally, the sobs stopped and the girl must have fallen asleep. Kitty must have dozed for a while also because she awoke to the feel of daylight on her eyes and opened them up hoping that maybe it was a dream and she would see her familiar room over the Long Branch. No such luck, this was reality, locked in a room belonging to Gannon's ranch. She could not understand why she had not seen him yet. That pleasure was still to come.

Leila was asleep so she decided to take the opportunity to see how things worked. Presumably there was still a man siting guard outside the door. She went over and tapped on it lightly.

"What d'you want?" came a gruff response.

"I need to go use the privy," she replied.

"Stand back from the door, so's I can see you."

She did as she was told and listened as the key turned. The man was a rough looking individual, but he was smart and kept his eyes on her all the time.

"What about the other one?"

"She's still asleep. I need to go now mister."

He pushed her ahead of him and kept his gun pointed at her while he reached back to lock the door. She tried to make conversation but the man would only grunt. He took her out back of the house and pointed to a door. Surprisingly it was a working water closet that was clean and in good repair. She took her time, trying to see through the small cracks in the clapboard, managing to locate the barn and the corral where the horses would be kept. She was also trying to see which direction would offer the best hope of escape. Finally the man outside was becoming impatient. "What's taking you so long in there, if you ain't out in 2 minutes I'm coming in to get you."  
"Incase you didn't know it takes ladies longer to deal with private things – you'll have to wait a minute." She was deliberately trying to see how long he would leave her alone. After a few more minutes she opened the door and made a big display of stopping to straighten her skirts before she let him walk her back to the room.

A little later a young girl with a tray was ushered into the room. She placed the tray on the table and left followed by the guard. The door was locked and once more they were imprisoned, no words had been spoken.

The women ate in silence, when they had finished Kitty led Leila over to the bed – as far from the door as possible. Quietly – almost in a whisper she talked to her.

"We have to get out of here and I have an idea."

"Its no good Kitty, there are too many of them, they'll kill us for sure."

Kitty thought Leila was going to start crying again.

"Pull yourself together – do you just want to give up?" She started walking round the room, looking for something heavy but not too big, something she could use as a weapon. It was then that the key was turning in the lock once more and two familiar men entered the room. Jed went over to Leila and grabbed her by the arm, hauling her out into the living room, leaving Kitty alone with Lou Gannon.

He walked towards her with a mocking smile on his hard face. The eyes were a cold, pale grey, almost colorless and totally without warmth.

"Won't you sit down?" He pulled one of the two chairs out from the table and she saw no alternative but to comply. He sat across from her.

"Do you know why I had you brought here Miss Russell?"

She didn't answer. What could she say? She thought she knew very well why she was here but did not want to give him that satisfaction.

"Well I don't expect it was because you like my company."  
In a flash he reached across the small table, grabbed her wrist with one hand and slapped her across the face with the other. It stung like fire, but she was not going to give him the pleasure of seeing her react to it.

"Listen, I want some answers. My men have been looking for that Marshal of yours for two weeks now and nobody seems to know where he is. I figured you would know."

"Why should he tell me where he's going? He has a job to do and sometimes it takes him out of town. I don't know much more than that."  
"I don't believe you." He raised his hand to slap her again, but this time she was ready. She blocked his hand and stood up from the table.

"Listen Mr. Gannon, if you are so interested in finding the Marshal, why don't you send some of your men out there to find him. What's so urgent that it can't wait, you know he'll be back in Dodge eventually."

He looked at her closely. Could it be that his plan wasn't working again. He had sent three men after Dillon just a few weeks ago. He had arranged to have him leave town and his men were supposed to quietly eliminate him out on the trail. Instead of that they had lost him. He had left town during the night and they told Gannon they were sure he wouldn't leave until the next morning. By the time they caught up with him he was almost to Hays and then some deputy came riding up so they dropped everything and left. Even so they barely had chance to get away unnoticed. Was his luck this bad or was it just that these men that worked for him were just incompetent fools. It had taken him a lot of arranging and a tidy sum of money to get that telegraph sent from Hays and then those idiots bungled what should have been the easy part. Somehow luck was not with him where that Marshal was concerned. Luck was so much easier to manipulate when playing poker.

She had looked him straight in the eye when she told him she did not know where Matt Dillon was, it certainly didn't look like she had been lying. But then he had seen this woman play cards and knew she could bluff a hand with the best.

He stood up and came over to her backing her into the bed. Roughly he threw her down.

"If I find out you have been lying to me…."

"You never told me why this was so urgent, maybe I can help you figure something out."

"I don't trust you Miss Russell, you lied about me in that little jumped up courtroom in Dodge last year."

"I only told the truth about what happened, nothing else."

"I have some business to conduct. I've got thirty five hundred head of cattle out there being trailed to the railhead in Dodge City, and I need to be there for the sale. That Marshal of yours is standing between me and a lot of money."

Kitty understood that to mean that Gannon planned to sell the cattle, many of which were most likely not his to sell, and probably use the proceeds to finance his crooked gambling. There were a lot of green drovers around town with pockets full of money and he was aiming to get a large portion of it. If Matt were around, any crooked card games that Gannon had in mind, would not be allowed, furthermore any cattle with altered brands and no legal bill of sale would be confiscated.

"Come on now Miss Russell, it is common knowledge around Dodge that you and the Marshal have a shall we say 'special friendship'.

"We talk a lot – but he doesn't tell me much about his job."

"I don't believe you."

Kitty shrugged her shoulders. Inside she was scared at what this man might do, but she could not let him know that. Outwardly she was calm and looked him squarely in the eye.

"I'm sorry about that, but there is not much more I can tell you."

"My men are there in Dodge right now, eventually he will have to come back. I have you here as my back up plan. Somehow he will find out you are here and will come looking for you. Then I will kill him. That Marshal has made a lot of trouble for me, I need him out of the way." Kitty watched as he twisted his hands, one in the other, his face tightened and she could see hate burning in his eyes.

"What makes you think he will bother to come looking for me?"  
He seemed to explode, reaching his hand down to where she was still sitting on the bed, he put his hand under her chin and pulled her up, putting his face close to hers and trying to look through her eyes into her mind. Her heart was beating so fast and so loud she knew that he must be able to hear it.

"Because I am going to kill you and that other girl if he doesn't."

He let her go, pushing her back onto the bed, then he turned on his heel and headed for the door, he slammed it so hard as he left the room that she thought it might come off its hinges, but no such luck. A few minutes after he left, the door opened again and Leila was pushed into the room and the door locked once more behind her. Kitty looked at the girl, apart from intense fear on her face she seemed none the worse for wear.

Leila was breathing hard.

"Calm down," Kitty said soothingly to the younger woman, "they are not going to do us any serious harm."  
Leila looked at her then raised her hand to touch the still reddened imprint of Gannon's hand on Kitty's cheek.

"Did he do that?"

"It looks worse than it is. We have to figure out how to get out of here. I have to get a message to Matt."  
"They'll kill us for sure if they catch us trying to escape." The younger woman was calmer now, she could see that Kitty was not afraid of these men and she would try her best to be a little braver.

"I don't think they will harm us just yet but anyway I don't plan for them to catch us."

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

The Return

Chapter 5

Matt read the telegram from the stage company and looked at Doc.

"You and Chester let her get on that stage by herself?"  
"We didn't have much choice Matt – you know how Kitty is when she gets an idea in her head."

Dillon ran his fingers through his hair and tried to think. East of Denver, that had to mean Lou Gannon and his men.

"I'm going to have to go after her Doc."

"You look pretty worn out – how long since you had a good nights sleep? You might stand a better chance of finding her if you rested up tonight and left tomorrow. Chester's gone to round up some men, maybe you could take a few of them with you."

"You know what I think of a posse, Doc."

"I know one thing, sometimes you think you can take everything on by yourself, but even you have limits Marshal. Of course I know you won't admit that."

Doc could tell that Matt was getting frustrated. The first of the trail herds would be arriving any moment, he needed to be here for that. Someone had to keep order in the town. At the same time there was Kitty in some kind of trouble and he needed to go after her.

The tall lawman just grunted and headed for the door.

"I'll see you later Doc."

Chester was waiting at the office when he opened the door. He could see another telegram waiting on his desk. It was from Tom Gilmore. All it told him was that the Sheriff had no idea who sent for him, their regular operator got sick and there was an apprentice there when it happened. Now the apprentice was nowhere to be found, furthermore there seemed to be no record of him with the telegraph company.

Matt was feeling pulled in too many directions. The first trail herd was barely 3 days out of town, Kitty was in trouble and he was needed in both places. He weighed his options. Doc was probably right; he would function better if he got a nights sleep before heading out again. His horse would probably be better for it too.

He glanced over at the pile of mail on his desk.

"I've tried to keep it sorted for you Mr. Dillon," Chester mumbled apologetically.

He knew that he had left is assistant here alone a lot during the past few months. The man had obviously tried his utmost to keep things in order.

"You did great Chester," he told him, trying to smile.

He looked through the different stacks, suddenly feeling very tired. He made up his mind.

"I'm going to leave at first light. Have my horse ready for me Chester. Right now I'm going over to the Dodge House and get a nights sleep."

"You want me to come with you tomorrow?"  
The Marshal knew that the jailer would do anything he could to help, but he also knew that long distance riding was not comfortable for him, and above all he intended to make good time. In the end he thought he would travel faster by himself.

"Someone needs to stay here and watch the town," he said after a little thought.

-XX-

It was barely daylight when he left Dodge the next morning and headed west. Twice he stopped to rest his horse then just as the sun was hovering above the horizon in front of him, he saw a large cloud of dust in the distance. It had to be the first of the trail herds, and by the size of the dust cloud it was a large one. Estimating the distance he figured that it would be at least four days before the herd hit town.

Spurring his horse into a gentle lope it took him a good half hour to catch up to them. They had already started to circle the cattle in for the night when he rode into the camp. Looking around he recognized one or two of the drovers, "Who's your trail boss?" he asked a dusty looking cowboy who was just riding in. "Jerry Jackson," came the reply.

"Where would I find him?"

"Out there riding point."

The man's manner was gruff and uncooperative, but Matt knew enough about Texas cowboys to ignore it.

He moved his horse on to where the herd was beginning to circle round and settle down for the night. He spotted Jackson on the far side of the mass of milling animals, and started around the perimeter at a quiet jog. The beeves all looked healthy and had a little weight on them. Jackson knew how to bring a herd to the stockyards looking their best.

The two men greeted each other.

"Where you headed Matt?"  
The Marshal gave a brief account of the stage kidnapping and how he figured Lou Gannon had something to do with it.

Jackson nodded and looked thoughtful.

"You know he has a herd about six or seven days behind us. Something is not right though. I have 3500 head and only fifteen men and a cook. That is plenty for a trail herd this size. He has about 2500 head there but twenty or twenty-five drovers, except I don't think they are all drovers. Some of them don't look like they've ever moved beeves before; they look more like hired guns to me. He certainly doesn't need that many men to move that few cattle."

"Who's his trail boss, Jerry."  
"A man named Wicks."

That was not a name Matt was familiar with.

The steers were mostly quiet now. Jackson directed four of his men to keep watch and finish settling them down for the night, then turned his horse and headed back to camp. Dillon followed suit and pulled alongside him.  
"Stay and have supper with us Matt. It's probably better than the beans and jerky you have, anyway your horse looks like he could do with a rest, just turn him over to the remuda and the boy will take care of him."

The Marshal and the trail boss sat off to one side, eating beef stew that was good – a lot better than some of the food Dillon had eaten at Delmonico's. Jackson explained that he always tried to hire a good cook – good food and good coffee made all the difference to the attitude of the drovers.

"Jerry, I need to ask you a favor. If I'm not back by the time you hit Dodge, can you give Chester a hand to keep your men in line."

"You know as well as I do that once they are paid off, I have no authority over them – but I'll do the best I can."

It was at this moment that a dusty young drover rode into camp. He handed his horse over to the remuda and walked over to where his boss and the lawman were talking. Smiling he extended his hand. "Marshal Dillon, I didn't expect to see you again till we got to Dodge."

Matt looked at the young man; he was a good six inches shorter than himself, slim build and a ready smile.

"Max Lemay – can't say I ever expected to see you herding cattle."

"Let's say I am trying to learn a new trade, I decided the cards could get me in too much trouble."

"The Marshal has a problem Max," Jackson explained.

Briefly Matt recounted how Kitty was kidnapped off of a westbound stage and he had every reason to suspect that Lou Gannon was involved.  
Max looked at Matt then at his Boss

"Mr. Jackson, I have a score to settle with Gannon, I could ride with the Marshal if you could spare me. It'll only be a few days till you get to Dodge anyway."

Matt looked thoughtful. He liked to work on his own, but he knew this young man was handy with a gun, and a little help might be useful.

He looked towards Jackson. "It's up to you."

The trail boss considered for a minute.

"I'll miss your help Max – but if the Marshal needs you, it's fine with me. I'll doc your pay though, by the number of days you miss."

Max grinned – he didn't need the money anyway. "I'll go get my gear together Marshal."

Jackson looked at Matt, "I think this might be my last trail drive Matt, and Wilton wants the boy to learn all he can about driving a herd."

"I can't believe your quitting the cattle business, Jerry."

The green eyes looked wistfully into the distance. "I like the life, but the ground gets harder to sleep on every trip, and now I have a woman at home who doesn't like me to be gone this long."

"I never thought the day would come when you thought of settling down, what are you going to do?"  
"Wilton is going to keep me on as Foreman at the ranch and he wants me to teach young Max there to head up the herds when I quit. Maybe I'll do one more drive, I don't know."

Both men got to their feet and said their farewells as Max Lemay returned with his own and the Marshal's horse in tow.

"Good Luck Matt," Jackson called as the Marshal and Lemay mounted up and headed off.

Matt would really have liked to stay and sleep at the camp that night but the thought of Kitty being in some kind of trouble kept him moving on.

-XX-

At the Blazing G ranch the two women locked in the back bedroom were talking quietly. Kitty had explained her plan to Leila and although the younger woman was still apprehensive she agreed to go along with it.

Kitty was unable to sleep, the thought of what they were about to do kept going round in her head. They had to wait till way after midnight, it needed to be dark, but at the same time they would need some dawn light to help them once they had got away from the ranch. Kitty had noticed that they left a young man, probably barely out of his teens, to guard their door in the small hours of the morning. She hoped to take advantage of his lack of experience to pull off their escape.

She listened hard and heard the guard change on the other side of the door. She wanted to give him time to settle down and get a little sleepy. She knew from experience that these early hours were the hardest time to stay alert. At last she figured it was time to go. First she went to the washstand and tore off part of a towel to make a long thin strip that she hid in the pocket of her skirt. She also removed the small amount of money she had left in her reticule and thrust that deep in her undergarment. She nudged the sleeping girl beside her.

"Come on Leila, time to go."

Leila sat on the edge of the bed and started groaning, gradually getting louder.

There was no response form the young guard, so after a few minutes Kitty went and banged on the door.

"Hey you out there," she called

"What d'you want," came a slurred reply.

"My friend doesn't feel well, she needs to go to the privy."

There was silence for a minute.

"What's wrong with her."

"It's lady's problems mister, do you need me to explain."

She waited a moment and heard the key turn in the lock. Leila put on a good show of doubling over and holding her stomach. The young man obviously didn't have a clue what was happening.  
"What you want me to do?"

"I'll take care of her." Kitty put her arm around the young woman's waist and helped her to her feet."

"Hey the boss says only to let one of you out at a time."

Leila gave another loud groan, grasping her stomach.

"Well here you take her then, someone needs to help her."

The guard stood back. He didn't understand anything about 'lady's problems' and certainly didn't want to have to learn about them now.

"Maybe I should go and get the boss."  
"We don't have time for that," Kitty's voice was now very authoritative. "Do you know what happens when a woman gets her monthly?"  
Now he was embarrassed. The best thing was to go along with them. This woman seemed to know what she was talking about and surely he could handle the two of them. They were only women after all.

All three walked along the winding path to the privy. Leila appeared to stumble a time or two, it was pretty dark by now and during one of these stumbles Kitty managed to gather up a fist sized rock and hide it in those voluminous skirts. Eventually they reached the little wooden structure and Kitty helped Leila inside, then came out and began talking casually to the boy. About five minutes passed, "what's she doing in there?" he asked.

In response Kitty knocked on the door. "Are you all right Leila?" No answer. She knocked again – still no response.

Kitty made an effort to push the door open, but it was jammed somehow. The young man gave a tentative push; it budged a little but would not open.

"I think she must have fainted, and somehow her body is blocking the door."  
She watched as the young guard took a step back. Now he didn't know what to do.

"Here I am sure you can push it a little then I can squeeze in there and see what's happened," volunteered Kitty.

The man stepped up to the door, Kitty took a step and was behind him. She raised the rock and brought it down on his head just as hard as she could. She hated doing it, and almost thought she couldn't but, after all, it was their only way out.

The man fell to the ground.

Kitty, on her last visit to the privy had seen where some saddles where slung on the rails of a fence just out back of there, and sent Leila off to get a rope from one of them. Meantime she used the torn towel to make a gag and hurriedly tied it round the guard's mouth. When Leila returned with the rope the women worked quickly to get him tied up before he came to. Between them they managed to shove him in the privy and close the door.

Kitty picked up the guard's rifle and Leila took his pistol. Together they crept to the corral. Somehow there was no guard, just about a dozen horses. They didn't have long now before the first shards of daylight would break the sky. Hurriedly they saddled two of the horses and walked them out of the corral. She was about to close the gate when Leila had a better idea and left it open, if the horses were gone it would slow down any followers they might have. Kitty wished she had a knife to cut through the girths on the remaining saddles, which would also slow down any of Gannon's men trying to follow them. But time was short.

Quietly they walked their horses away from the ranch and once they were at a safe distance, mounted up.

This part had gone well, but now Kitty realized she did not have much idea of which way they should go. A straight line in any direction would take them away from the ranch, so chancing to luck she led them off towards some scrubby trees in the distance, then when she thought they were at a safe enough distance, they urged the horses into a canter. She wanted to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the ranch before anyone discovered they were gone.

She had not slept well for the two nights she had spent at the ranch and now it was beginning to tell. There was a small creek up ahead and she thought they should stop for a few minutes to water the horses and fill the one canteen they had found on the saddles. They had no food, but like she told Leila, better to be away from Gannon, even if it meant being a little hungry for a day or two.

They stopped for a short rest. By now the sun had begun to rise above the horizon and she felt certain their absence would have been noticed. She stood there watching where the sun rose, that would be east and if she kept heading in that direction she would be getting closer to Dodge. What she really needed to find was a relay station, or a small settlement with a telegraph office. She wished Matt were here, or that there was some way to get in touch with him. She scanned the horizon but saw no dust clouds that might be caused by riders. She hoped to goodness no-one was following them yet. She thought they had travelled about ten miles – not far enough if Gannon's men were trailing them. Hopefully most of the horses had left the corral and they had had spend time searching for them.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

The Return

Chapter 6

Matt left the trail herd behind and headed off into the night with Max riding easily beside him. He hoped they could ride for another 3 or 4 hours at least. Even so it would take another day and a half at least before they reached Gannon's place. He kept thinking of Kitty and that spurred him on, if Gannon had hurt her.. well best not to think about that.

The two men sat around a small fire drinking hot coffee. It was way past midnight and the sky had got so dark with overhanging clouds that it was impossible to continue. Max was determined to make a good impression on the Marshal and had unsaddled the horses and set out the bedrolls.

"You can take first watch if you like Max," Dillon offered. The first watch was generally considered the easier one. "Just wake me up in about three hours." Somehow he trusted the boy now. He had certainly matured since the events of the previous year and he decided it was good to have him along.

It was a day and a half later before they saw the entrance to the Blazing G in the distance. Matt decided they would not take the direct route along the trail leading to the house, but ride along a small ridge to the east. That would give them a clearer view of the buildings and also they would not be so easily visible to anyone at the ranch. Having spent so much time working there Max was familiar with the layout of the place and pointed out the bunkhouse, the corral and other buildings around the main house.

They were surprised to see so few men around, and there were no horses in the corral, but a whole line of saddles could be seen hanging on the fence rails. As they watched two ranch hands came riding in from the opposite direction, each ponying a string of horses.

Soon, other men appeared and began saddling the animals. After a little longer Gannon came out of the house and seemed to be giving instructions to his men. About 8 of them mounted up and headed out in two groups of four, each taking different directions.

"Any idea what's going on Max?"  
"Looks like their horses got out of the corral during the night, and now they are riding off to look for something."

"Or maybe some one let them out," Matt added quietly after a moments consideration.

"That was eight men rode off, how many ranch hands do you think are left there?"

"Maybe four or five, then there's the cook and a couple of house staff."

Matt thought for a few minutes.

"I want you to stay hidden, Max. You are my backup. Just keep your eyes open and step in if the situation gets out of hand."

With that he started making his way down towards the ranch house, staying hidden from direct view as much as possible. Finally he reached the side of the building and staying low crept onto the front porch so he could stand to the side of one of the windows and listen. He could hear voices arguing, the loudest was that of Lou Gannon. He was yelling loudly at a man named Sutton.

"It's not my fault Mr. Gannon – me and Stephens brought you the woman like you wanted. It was someone else let her escape. Maybe Miller will find both of them – he's a pretty good tracker."

"I am surrounded by idiots. First Price and his friends let Dillon get away, then that kid Sherman lets the women escape from him. All I want is that Marshal and his woman here. I have a lot of money invested in those cattle heading to Dodge and you men are going to make me lose every penny. Get out of here." He paced the floor, unsure what to do next

Dillon could hear the man called Sutton heading towards the front door. He made his way so he was standing to one side of it, pressing his back against the wall of the building. He slid his colt from its holster and held it ready. As the man came onto the porch and closed the door behind him, Matt stepped forward and raising the gun brought the barrel down on the man's head. He managed to catch him before he hit the floor, then signaled to Max to come join him. Together they dragged the unconscious man away from the house.

Max had learned a lot about cattle in his weeks driving the herd, he had brought a rope and quickly had Sutton tied up like a calf for branding. Dillon inspected the knots, and nodded his approval, he told Max to haul him off and hide him up in that area of rocks. He then returned to the house and looking through the same window as before, he could see Gannon sitting at this desk on the far side of the room, his back towards Dillon. There was nobody else around that he could see, so he made up his mind and burst through the door.

"All right Gannon – get up from there slowly and keep your hands where I can see them."

Gannon did as he was told, but the rancher had a twisted smile on his lips when he turned around.

"I wondered when you'd get here Marshal."

"Where is Miss Russell?"

"She'll be here all in good time."

The Marshal's ears picked up the sound of approaching horses; he wanted to look out the window to see what was going on. Then he heard a woman's voice – one he knew so well.

"Get your filthy hands off of me." That was Kitty

For that split second he was distracted. From out of nowhere there was a sharp pain in his head and blackness set in.

"Good work Miller, about time you did something useful," Gannon commented, "tie him in that chair before he comes round."

Miller had been standing in a small room off of the main room. When the Marshal had entered the house he had stood back behind the open door, out of sight. As soon as the voices were heard outside he took his chance and moved forward and hit the big man on the head with the butt of his gun.

-XX-

Max had seen the riders approaching the house – there were five of them in all 4 men and a woman. Even from a distance he recognized the woman. As they moved closer he could see her read hair – now streaming wildly behind her as she rode. When he had last seen her she was perfectly dressed and every hair and brush of makeup was exactly where it should be. Now he could see streaks of dirt on her face and clothes that were torn and stained, even so she still sat upright and defiant on the horse. To his satisfaction he could see blood on the sleeve of one of the men. With luck he could probably take out two or even three of them before they knew what was happening – but the woman would be in danger. Best wait and see what the Marshal had planned.

Matt lifted his head in time to see Kitty being pushed into the room where he was tied to a chair with his hands behind his back – whoever tied the rope did a good job, he could hardly move at all and already the fingers of his left hand were going numb. He tried not to show any emotion, he felt so guilty that she had been drawn into the problems associated with his badge. Somehow she showed little expression on her face but made contact with her eyes, they did not really need words. Without words he told her he was fine and was relieved that she was safe – at least for the moment.

As Kitty entered the room her eyes set on the Marshal, he was tied to a chair but otherwise looked fine. She noticed the room was large with a big fireplace, a rifle over the mantle and a large desk to her right. On the desk there was the usual clutter, but she quickly spotted a small penknife – that might be useful.

Gannon watched her for a moment. He had thought she would show more emotion at seeing the man he had as his prisoner – but she barely gave him a glance. Instead her eyes were on him.

"Where is Leila?" he asked her. Somehow this woman was fascinating him. Her clothes were torn and covered with streaks of dirt, her hair was falling loose and uncontrolled, but there was something in those blue eyes that spoke to him.

"She got lost sometime last night, couldn't keep up, I'm surprised your men didn't find her."

She was making her way towards the desk but kept her eyes on Gannon. She also was pleased to see that only one of the rancher's men had stayed in the room, the others had gone back outside, that would make it easier. She could see that Matt did not have his gun, but couldn't she it anywhere in the room.

"Tell me what you have planned Mr. Gannon. I am sure that a clever man like you has a reason for everything he does." One thing Kitty had learned from her experiences in life was how to play with a man's mind, how to appear to give him her undivided attention while keeping her thoughts on something else.

"I need this Marshal out of the way, permanently. He has been a thorn in my side and now I have the chance to make fortune in Dodge he is the only thing standing in my way."

"What about me Mr. Gannon, you know I can help you in Dodge, after all what better place for you to operate from than the Long Branch."

She had reached the desk and leaned back against it, trying to hide her hand behind her skirts.

"I'm not sure I can trust you Miss Russell, after all you did testify in that trial that Marshal rigged up against me."  
"I didn't have much choice did I? I depend upon the Long Branch for my livelihood, so I need to keep the law happy."

She was trying to hold his eyes with hers while she reached for the small knife. At last there it was, a chill went through her fingers as she touched the small object.

"That lawman seems more interested in you, after all he came this far to find you, just like I knew he would." Somehow Gannon couldn't quite trust this woman and yet there was something about her manner, the way she was looking at him, maybe she really did admire him, maybe he could take her from Dillon – now that would be something.

Kitty laughed, it was forced but he didn't notice.

"He's only interested in me for the money I make, and a few other things."

She walked across the room to where Matt was sitting trying to clear his head.

She reached out her left hand and roughly lifted his face so that he was looking at her. He could read her eyes and played along, there wasn't much else he could do. She then passed behind him and as she did so she pushed the knife into his tied hands, hoping he could use it to somehow cut through the rope that was holding him.

"So you plan to kill him." The words were hard to say but she had to keep Gannon busy, keep him distracted so Matt had time to work on freeing himself.

"Does that worry you?"

"You think it should? What about me Gannon, are you going to kill me too?"

"I've considered it."

She tried to show no emotion and at the same time keep his attention away from Matt. Then there was the guard still in the room. It would make it easier if she could get him to leave. She risked a quick glance at Matt; he was still working on the rope.

"You know Gannon, I've had a really long ride this morning. How about a drink, some coffee or something."

She could sense he was beginning to believe her and moved a little closer to him trying to make him focus on her. He took a breath.

"Go ask that cook to make a pot of coffee and bring it here," he ordered the man standing by the door.

The man left, Matt guessed what she was doing, trying to give him time. It wasn't easy working on his bonds because he had very little room to manipulate the small knife. Twice he had managed to cut his own skin instead of the rope, but slowly, carefully he was working strand by strand, till at last he felt them give. He stayed very still not letting the rope fall to the floor. He watched as the guard left the room and knew he wouldn't be gone long. He didn't even know if Gannon was armed, but he had to act quickly, Kitty had given him this opportunity and he would not waste it.

He watched as Gannon started to reach out his hand towards the redhead. It gave him the motivation he needed, forcing himself up out of the chair and throwing the cut rope to the floor he launched himself at Gannon. It took two good backhands before the man lay on the floor. He was about to call for help when Matt produced the knife and held it to his throat.

"Just be quiet and you'll live," he told him through half clenched teeth. "Kitty my gun must be somewhere around."

Already she was looking through desk drawers until she finally found it and handed it to Dillon. He took a minute to check that it was loaded and then pointed it at his prisoner. He picked up a piece of the rope from the floor and swiftly bound the man's hands behind him.

"This time, Gannon, no fancy lawyer is going to get you off because I won't have to rely on someone else's testimony to get a guilty verdict."

As he spoke he hauled Gannon to his feet. " Now we are going to walk out of here, and if anyone tries to stop us, you will be the first to die. I am not too particular whether I take you back to Dodge alive or dead."

"Matt we have to go get Leila, I left her hiding among some rocks about an hours ride from here."

"I'm sure Mr. Gannon will be good enough to loan us a wagon, we'll go pick her up on the way home.

Matt proceeded to push his prisoner out of the house and onto the porch. One of Gannon's men came running up – gun drawn.

"Tell him Gannon," Matt pushed the gun a little harder into his back.

"Hold your fire men," Gannon told him – he clearly understood that the Marshal had meant what he said.

"All right Kitty come on out now and stay close behind me."  
At that point Max appeared from behind the house.

"Need any help Marshal?"

Just as he spoke a man appeared from the house – he was behind Matt and Kitty and Max saw him raising his gun to aim. He was faster and before the man had the pistol leveled and ready to fire, he aimed and shot. The Man fell to the ground. Matt turned, realized what had happened and nodded a thank you. That should certainly deter any others with similar ambitions.

There were now four of Gannon's men just standing there not sure what to do. None of them had a great love for their boss, and were certainly not willing to lose their lives defending him.

"I need a wagon and team hitched up and brought around here," Matt ordered. No one moved. "You have five minutes, otherwise none of you will leave this place alive.

There was a short burst of activity and before many minutes passed the wagon appeared. He pushed his prisoner into the back and looked around for another piece of rope. He signaled to one of the remaining men to go bring him some and quickly tied Gannon so he would not be able to cause any problem. Kitty had climbed up in the wagon and Matt sat beside her, picking up the lines. "Go get our horses and follow," he told Max, "we have to go find Leila and then home."

He turned and smiled at Kitty, "You almost had me convinced with your play acting back there," he laughed. "I was beginning to worry."

She smiled at him and sat closer, soon she felt the warmth of his arm around her waist and snuggled even closer. The gentle rhythm of the horses became hypnotic as she realized how little rest she had had in the last few days. Her eyelids got very heavy, Matt felt her body relax against his and knew she was sleeping. He smiled to himself – they were going home.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

The Return

Chapter 7

It took three hours to find Leila. Kitty told how they had ridden from the ranch and probably gone about 15 miles when she saw a cloud of dust rising behind them. She knew it had to be Gannon's men. Making a quick decision she gave Leila the gun they had taken from their guard and told her to ride off towards a rocky outcrop they could see about half a mile to their right. "Hide up there," she had told the girl, "they are raising so much dust they won't see your tracks. I am going to ride on and get them to follow me. You have to find a way to get help, send a message to the Marshal in Dodge."

There was no time for fond farewells.

"Good luck Miss Kitty" Leila had called after her as she headed on, trying to create enough dust that it would be a while before her pursuers realized that she was alone.

"You took a big risk Kitty," Matt told her with concern in his voice, "they might have killed you."

"I didn't think so, Gannon wanted me alive so he could get to you."

At last Kitty found the place where she had left Leila and it didn't take the Marshal long to pick up her trail. He left Kitty and Gannon with Max, and taking the Buckskin set out to find her. It didn't take him long to catch up with the young blonde and in less than an hour he returned with the exhausted girl.

For the women it was an emotional reunion. Leila had hated leaving Kitty, and had spent those cold miserable early morning hours hiding out in the rocks. She waited for what seemed like ages before Gannon's men passed her on their way to take the defiant red head back to the ranch. She was still too scared to move, but eventually as the day grew hotter she decided it was time to go look for help, as Kitty had told her. She was riding on in the direction they had been travelling and hadn't gone too far when she heard hoof beats coming up behind her. To begin with she thought it was Gannon's men or Jed Stephens coming to take her back, but at the last minute she recognized the big rider on the buckskin horse.

-XX-

The trip home would take the best part of three days.

It was getting on towards evening of the first day when Matt got Lemay to drive the wagon for a while. He saddled the buckskin horse and rode him back along the trail for several miles just to make sure they were not being followed. He knew that he was in need of some sleep that night and when the Max volunteered to watch the prisoner for a few hours he did not object, just cautioned the young man to shoot without hesitation if Gannon gave him any trouble.

The second day passed in much the same way. He began pushing the team a little faster now; trying to make sure this would be their last night to camp. This time while checking the trail behind them, he managed to shoot a couple of rabbits for some kind of an evening meal and was surprised to watch as Leila and Max took charge of lighting a fire and roasting the meat. He was going to help them but Kitty guided him away.

"Leave them alone, Matt, they are doing fine."

He checked on his prisoner and then arranged some logs around the campfire so they would have a warm place to eat. He also found a small stream nearby and filled the canteens for tomorrow's ride. When he returned Max was sitting alone, he looked around for Kitty.

"The ladies went off to clean up some," Max explained.

Their evening meal was almost ready by the time Kitty and Leila returned

He had no idea how she had accomplished it – but when he saw Kitty her hair was perfectly in place and her dress – although carrying signs of her ordeal, was smoothed out and almost perfect. Leila had undergone a similar transformation, and even Dillon noticed Max's eyes light up when he saw her.

Leila and Max struck up quite a friendship on their journey home. Kitty smiled to herself, maybe this time things would work out for the pretty young blonde. Max had lost a lot of his 'spoiled little brother' ways since she had last seen him, and looked like he would turn out to be a hard working cattleman like his brother.

The small group made it safely into Dodge, much to Chester's delight. Matt handed the prisoner over to his assistant and turned to see Jerry Jackson standing there.

"My men pretty much behaved themselves Matt, some of them may even go home with a little money left in their pockets. Gannon's herd got in yesterday and is down at the stockyards, I wasn't sure what to do with them."

The Marshal didn't have much idea either, but doubtless something would work out.

"If you can find their trail boss, have him come and talk to me," he requested, "oh and what happened to all those extra men from the drive."

"They are mostly hanging out in the saloons here like they are waiting on something or someone." Dillon would go track them down but thought they wouldn't be much trouble. Most hired guns disappeared quickly when they were not going to get paid.

He escorted Kitty and Leila back to the Long Branch then returned to his office to go through the mail. There was a note from Tom Gilmore in Hays City telling him that the wire had probably been sent by someone passing himself off as an apprentice operator who showed up in town for about five days and then left as quietly as he had come. He had checked with the telegraph company but they knew no such person. It also seemed that Charlie – their usual operator was drugged one evening and the apprentice was left alone in the office for several hours. He included a description of the man and the fact that he claimed his name was Alvin Shires, but that was probably not very helpful.

As to the cattle from the trail herd that Wicks brought in, Matt inspected them all and decided that about of the brands had been altered. He believed that many of the animals had been taken from other ranchers in the area around Gannon's ranch, even so he told the Trail Boss to go ahead and sell the animals at auction, and payoff the men. Whatever was left over after all obligations were met he would turn over to the Cattlemen's association so those ranchers who had lost animals from their herds could be compensated.

Lou Gannon ranted and raved for two weeks while waiting on the circuit judge to arrive in Dodge. When the trial finally did get under way, it was over quickly. With testimony from Kitty Russell and Marshal Dillon, there was no doubt as to the charge of kidnapping and Matt had ample proof of cattle rustling, which he added to the list. Lou Gannon was sentenced to 15 years, which would keep him out of the way for a good while.

After making rounds the evening that the trial ended, Matt made his way to the Long Branch. He almost ran up those back stairs to let himself into his lady's rooms.

She was waiting for him. Her hair was falling loose and resting softly on the dark blue robe she was wearing over a very low cut equally blue nightgown.

Without saying anything she handed him a glass containing some of her fine Brandy.

"Do you think you'll get to stay home for a while now," she smiled.

He sat on the small settee and carefully removed his boots. She watched as he wriggled the toes that were released from their confinement.

"If I have my way, I'm never leaving again."

She gave a little laugh, "Is that a promise?"

She brought her glass and sat on the couch next to him, enjoying the aroma of his body and feeling the warmth of his embrace. In a short time the Brandy was finished, and its warming glow was intermingled with the heat of their feelings for each other. They knew it would be several hours before sleep was allowed to break the spell.

End.


End file.
